Baraka.

Chapter 9.

It is 4:30 a.m. and the bell goes off. It is time to wake up. Time had gone by so fast.

"You guys need to wake up."
Kamau pulls away my blanket then Biko's and hits Amani.

"Argh Kamau. Have you forgotten you are no longer a member of the council? Leave us alone."
Amani laments and we could not help but chuckle. When Kamau was still a prefect he would wake us up immediately the bell rings. He was not even in charge of the dormitory but he just wanted to torture us.

"I will not let allow you to continue sleeping simply because you are  my friends while the rest of the students are already awake. How would that make me look?"
He would always tell us.

"Fine, but Mr. Komora and the janitor are in the next room waking people up."

We all jump out of our beds and make them before they arrive. The boarding master usually had this stick and would go from cubicle to cubicle and when he found a student still sleeping, he would hit you hard with it. He did not care if one could get a heart attack from it. Although it was hilarious to watch how students react when he hits them. They pass by our cubicle and find us awake and they inform us we got twenty minutes to get out. We head to the showers quickly and come back to change to our school uniforms. The students head in to the dining to take porridge for breakfast. I really never liked porridge. Actually not many students take it. So we head in to the classes for our morning preps. Some decide to turn their lockers to beds and extend their cut short sleep. However one had to be alert so you would not be found by the teacher on duty. Pure torture I tell you. Most of the students in our class are drooping, even our class prefect. We sit at the back corner of the class. Tony is my deskmate. Biko sits in front of us together with Amani. Kamau sits in front next to the teacher. He claims he would not be able to pay attention to the teacher when he sits at the back. We are a total of 35 students in our class. We have three streams in form four, East, West, North.

It is 6: 45a.m. and we head for the morning prayers at the chapel. It is mandatory for all students to attend. They gave no regards to whether you are from a different denomination or a different religion. They did not change that rule even after our play. Father Luka told off students and said if anyone cannot abide by the rules, he should transfer to another school. It is quite chilly.
Our prayers end at 7:20 a.m. and we are allowed a forty minute break before we resume to classes. Some head back to the hostel to freshen up while others sleep.

"I will never get used to this. I cannot wait to be through with highschool." I lament as we walk back to class.

"Me neither." Biko and Amani say in unison.

"The timetable is not out yet and we have not been issued with the textbooks. Why do we have to even wake up that early."

"I told you to make a proposal to the student council when you were still a member to make preps optional but you refused."

"You know the administration will never agree to that. They rarely listen to the council. They are just footsoldiers who ensure the school rules and regulations are adhered to."

"Thank heavens you were never like that Kamau." Amani tells him.

The rest of the day we remain in our respective classrooms and only come out during breaks. We take tea at 10:30 a.m. and lunch at 12:30 p.m. The strict schedule makes me more convinced we are in prison.
Some of the subject teachers come to welcome us back to school and inform us of the respective subjects they would be taking us through the whole year.

After our lunch break we head back to our classes. Kamau comes and sit next to me since Tony has not reported back to school.

"Any plans for this term Biko?" Amani asks.